With all the recent talk about the Glenwood Gardens, we couldn’t let the topic go without discussing that old word “perception” again. Do we choose who lives and dies in EMS or are we just following guidelines, made up my people who are out of touch with reality, research and medicine? Policies enforced with a legal eye and no regard for the patient and their outcomes.

There is a lot that goes with this story and others like it. Phrases like DNR, duty to act and more get thrown around. But there is an issue with this call that goes beyond CPR, deciding who gets it, when they get or IF they get.

There is a reality that haunts EMS daily and if you have listened to the call, it’s there, right below the surface.

Take a listen to this episode as we discuss the CPR, DNR, CCRC’s and the bigger underlying issue that we as EMS professionals face everyday with agencies like them. We also discussed hypothermia treatment in cardiac arrest patients before ROSC.

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Thanks to John Broyles and also to “Dads of Great Students” and Tom Bouthillet for joining us in the chat room.

We had Tim Noonan join us on the call but had a bunch of background noise that an after contact I had with Tim I hope has given a solution to that for future call ins.

Special thanks to Aladtec EMS Manager for sponsoring this episode of Office Hours. Go check out their free and customizable EMS employee scheduling and management software – click here to begin.

Check out the articles mentioned during the show:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/back_from_the_dead_kghyCkyk8MEEGjSSVmwAhM/2

http://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2013/03/06/the-cpr-death-at-glenwood-gardens-what-really-happened-and-five-lessons-you-should-learn/

Finally a shout out to Josh for being the ever present co-host and to Steve Whitehead for giving me some inspiration for this topic.